Brighton, Afternoon Tea Restaurant Guide

“Excellent vegetarian food, made with love and imagination” has earned widespread recognition for this institution on a “slightly cramped” corner in the Lanes, founded in 1981. Its younger sibling, Botanique in Hove, was founded on similar lines, but last year took a different direction by adopting a ‘sustainable, biodiverse, hyper-local approach’ that involves serving some meat and fish.

“Excellent fish cookery” showcased in a “very atmospheric dining room” which is “one of the surprisingly rare places with sea views in Brighton” – “the quality here is unwavering and the menu always evolves slightly”. Even one local who considers it “a tiny-bit-less superb than the Coal Shed and Burnt Orange” (its stablemates in local restaurateur Raz Helalat’s Black Rock group), feels that “when it’s good, it’s very good”.

“A lovely setting overlooking the gardens towards the South Downs” helps set up a “top-class experience” at this Elizabethan country house spa-hotel: “decor… ambience… service… food all are first rate”. Mind you, “there‘s nothing flash/super-creative about any of this: they know their market and it’s just really well executed”.